New York – Five days after the announcement that it would be City Hall, not the state, that would be stepping up to meet the needs of special needs children who required placement in non-public schools, Mayor de Blasio unveiled plans to acheive that goal today at a City Hall press conference.
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Speaking to an audience of NY state Assembly members, advocates, special needs parents and members of the media, de Blasio announced the city’s new policies which would take effect in September 2014 and would provide special needs parents with much needed relief.
The mayor’s plan would streamline the placement process for children whose needs are not being served by public school students, seeking settlements with parents within 15 days of receiving notice that they would be placing their children in a non-public school, would put an end to the policy of mandatory annual re-litigations in cases where settlements or decisions have already been made unless changes have been made to the child’s Individualized Educational Program, would require parents to submit paperwork every three years instead of annually and would expedite reimbursements to parents.
Today’s announcement was a concerted effort that advocates hope will put an end to a system that has long been criticized.
de Blasio credited the many elected officials who had been working to pass legislation on the state level that would force the Department of Education to better accommodate the children in question including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein and Senator Simcha Felder.
According to the mayor there are 170,000 special needs children in New York City, several thousand of whom are not being served by the public school system, and de Blasio touted his record of advocating for this population, first as a member of the City Council and then in his position as Public Advocate.
Pointing to his recent accomplishments with both the city’s universal pre-K and summer programs, de Blasio noted that his administration has been quick to put programs in place and he vowed to end a system that penalized families and instead “knock down barriers for children with developmental disabilities and ease burdens on families.”
Several others addressed the audience, with Senator Simcha Felder classifying the day as “historic”.
Assembly Speaker Silver spoke about how families have been bankrupted by the current system and how students have been denied their state guaranteed right to a basic education.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said that she hoped the new agreement would “reduce uncertainty” and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein lamented the fact that parents have, until now, been “forced to jump through hoops.”
Several advocates received special invitations and front row seating in honor of their efforts to better serve the special needs population including Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel, Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, Mrs. Leah Steinberg, Chaskel Bennett and Leon Goldenberg, all of Agudath Israel of America, and Jeff Leb of the Orthodox Union.
Yes yes yes yes yes! as a mother of a special needs child in a private school this is such amazing news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great news! Now let us see to it that the general student population in private schools are provided with a proper education so that when they grow up they can be productive members of society.
This is exactly what the East Ramapo School Board has been trying to accomplish.
However the liberal phonies have battled them tooth and nail and prompted phony investigations because of this. However because deBlasio is a bleeding heart liberal they will tout this as a great accomplishment(which this actually is, although no thanks to him) while vilifying the ERCSD board. The difference is because they Da** hasidics. They must be stealing.
Bunch of bigoted pigs. The NAACP and Ari Hart’s clergy group should be investigated for civil rights violations.
Read the audit and stop lying. The audit mentions out of state placements. It’s cheaper to stay at the Waldorf and bring in kosher meals and have therapy 24/7.
finally!!!! us parents wont have to jump thru firey hoops every year!!!!
Yes its great news for those who currently have children with special needs. But how about those that will have in the future? This extra funding will drain an already out of control government funding. By the time the next generation comes there will be nothing left in the pot and all will have to suffer.
As a side note what is special needs? When I grew up ADD just meant you were a child with no zits fliesh. Many of those kids turned out just fine with no thearpy. today they are all drugged up. If we are dealing with real special needs OK. But alot of this money is wasted on stupidty and that every child has to be diagnosed with something.